Golan Heights Distillery Golani Black Whisky Live Tel-Aviv 2018 (61.9%)

David Zibell is really going from strength to strength in the Israeli craft distillation scene. After doing some great work with his own Golan Heights distillery, he has recently started The Jerusalem Distilling Company in conjunction with Lazar Berman., a review of one of their first products will be going on line here shortly. David also announced just this last Friday that he has become a partner and master distiller of the new Legends Distillery, which will be making American style whisky in the Ella Valley region. I look forward to seeing the work David will be doing with a Kentucky type spirit there.
Image may contain: people sitting, table and indoor
Golan Heights Distillery will be offering a single cask bottling of their Golani Black (a previous cask of which was reviewed here), this time at full cask strength of 61.9% ABV.  Like the previous Golani single cask, this is a double distillation of wort made of a wheat and malted barley mash, aged just over three years, it was distilled on February 9th, 2015, in a virgin American oak cask.
This expression will be offered in numbered bottles, non chill filtered and at natural color.

Photo Credit: Golan Heights Distillery

Golan Heights Distillery Golani Black Whisky Live Tel-Aviv 2018, Cask 24, Distilled 9.2.2015, Bottled March 2018 (61.9% ABV, NCF, NC)

Appearance: Copper, very sturdy necklace with slow moving legs.

Nose: Toffee and butterscotch, vanilla and hints of citrus blossom. There’s a hint of the char from the cask on the nose, with a freshness.
Water: A few drops of water bring out more of the honey, together with a dried orange peel and a hint of balsamic vinegar.

Palate: Bitter at first and spicy, with pepper and grapefruit rind, then a wash of a mild sweetness comes over the tongue. On the pallate, you can get the signature licorice the Golani has, but it’s much milder here than in the other casks I’ve tasted.
Water: Strangely, water seems to thicken the whisky and make it more viscous in the mouth feel, it also lessens the sweetness.

Linger: Spicy and sweet, with a long and somewhat dry linger. The spice settles around the gullet, leaving a soft sweetness in the mouth.
Water leaves a creamy, almost dulce de leche sweetness in the back of the mouth.

Conclusion

This single cask has a very nice balance between the spice and the sweetness, with this dram not swinging too far in either direction. This cask was chosen very well, and shows a milder side of the single cask bottlings of Golani, without losing David’s thumbprint on the liquid.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *